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Weaving
Weaving can be defined as the production of a plain surface created by
horizontal and vertical passing movements of weft and warp loops.
Warp loops standing side by side are divided into two with the help of a tool
called a “nire,” and weft loops are passed through this empty space (called the
mouthpiece) with the help of a shuttle, and plain surfaces are thus produced.
Weaving can be classified into three categories depending on tools and
techniques used:
1- Shuttle Weaving: Fabric weaving, Siirt blanket, kola and capon weaving.
2- Weaving with Kirk:
A- Plain Weavings with Kirk: carpets, Cecil, zillion (sill), sumac
B- Kirk Weaving with Pile: rug
3- Weaving without a Shuttle: Palaz, Kolan, carpana (with or without card)
Weaving Without Tissue (felt)
SHUTTLE WEAVING
Weft loops are passed through the group of warp threads with the help of a
shuttle, and woven fabric with a plain surface is produced.
Various fabrics, Siirt blankets and kolans appear in this category. The Siirt
blanket is one of the plain diaper woven fabrics.
Traditional Turkish weavings can be grouped into those made for house, market
and palace. These are made of wool, cotton and silk, and are produced by women
in houses as examples of Turkish handicrafts. They come in various types such as
fabric, handkerchief, towel and large napkins.
Kolan Weaving: These are belt-like weavings, flat and wide in shape
and composed of wool, linen, cotton and bristle threads. In Kolana and carpana
weavings, a stick is used instead of the “gücü,” but as these are made with a
shuttle, they are considered part of the shuttle group.
In Kolan weaving, warp threads are stretched between two sticks staked into
the ground and another stick that can play the role of the “gücü” is passed
through them. As the third stick is rotated, a hole opens between the warps and
weft threads are passed through these holes and tightened in order to produce
the weaving.
Weaving With Carpana (tablet): This is the simplest of weaving techniques,
made with square cards with holes on the edges. Tablets, which may be made of
camel or ox skin or else walnut, are called carpana.
The warp threads are arranged according to their colour and passed through
the holes. When the card begins to rotate, a space opens up and the weft threads
are passed through this space, and so the process continues. One tip of the warp
is tied to the weaver’s belt or to the sticks on the ground. The surface of the
woven fabric is full of warps.
Today, this kind of weaving is produced by the Yoruks (the nomadic shepherd
people of Anatolia) and used in daily life for making the tents they live in,
baskets, saddlebags, sacks, harnesses for animals and decorations for carts and
camels. Women use them for hair dressings, aprons, dresses, belts and cradles,
and men for scabbards or ammunition bags, belts for the Koran, lassoos, socks
and slippers. Today, these fabrics are generally preferred for their decorative
value. They are used in making handkerchiefs, towels and sheets.
WEAVING WITH KIRKIT
A. Plain weaving with kirkit:
In some parts of hand weaving, a tool called a “kirkit” is used in order to
tighten the weft loops, and the hand-made material produced by using the kirkit
is called ‘weaving with kirkit.’
Carpet Weaving: This is a weft surfaced weaving, in which the weft
threads are passed through the warp threads, one to the front and the other
behind, and in which the warp threads are tightened and hidden. In carpets, on
special areas where designs exist, colored weft threads continue until they
reach the borderline of another design and then return. In this way, designs
begin to appear when same colored wefts go and come between the warps.
When the weft thread sticks between stretched warps, this is called the “face
of warp,” and when wefts and warps are tightened equally, this is called
“bezayaği” weaving.
Carpets may differ according to their weaving techniques: these include,
carpets on which there are warp spaces between colors, carpets in which warp
spaces are diminished (single clamp, double clamp, cross knitting, weaving wefts
on a single warp), carpets in which warp spaces are diminished between colors,
carpets whose designs are put in a framework, carpets with curved wefts and
carpets that include additional threads between wefts.
Cicim Weaving: This is a kind of weaving done with different coloured
design threads applied and tightened between weft and warp threads. Cicim is a
kind of weaving which is applied on the reverse. Cicim weavings whose weft is
composed of bristles are very common.
Reliefs, which look as if they have been additionally applied with a needle,
are to be found here. Weft and design threads follow each other in cicim weaving.
After the weft thread has been dropped, either the design thread or a number of
warp threads are dropped in order to create the design.
In cicim weaving designs on the surface may have different appearances due to
the width of the threads employed.
Fabric bags, tablecloths, bridal sacks, prayer sheets, pillows and quilts are
all made from cicim weaving.
Cicim is produced in weft thread or bezayaği techniques. There are two or
three kinds of cicim weavings according to the application of the design thread.
Zili (sili) weaving: Design threads are applied three on the surface
and one below the surface in their own design area. After the line is completed,
one or more wefts are applied and tightened. In diagonal designs, this process
is continued with the sliding of the thread on each line. Sometimes both
diagonal and perpendicular designs are applied in the same weaving.
Zili, which has a hard and rough appearance, is composed of briest. It is
still produced by nomadic shepherd peoples, and because it is hard to create
designs on it, it has changed very little since the earliest days. Zili weavings
are preferred for making various tents, sacks, cushions, pillows and mats.
There are plain, cross, frameworked and checked zili weaving, all depending
on the different application techniques.
Sumak weaving: In sumak weaving, design threads are continously
wrapped around the warp loops in the same colored design area. While being
wrapped around the warps in the same area, threads may also be wrapped in other
design areas by reversing or going up the sides. Design threads create reliefs
on the surface of the cloth.
In sumak weaving where weft threads are not used, cicim, zili and carpet
techniques may be applied.
It is preferred in the making of prayer sheets, packsaddles and mats.
Plain, reversed weft, crossed weft and herringbone are some of the commonest
types.
B. Kirkit Weaving With Pile:
Rugs: A warp skeleton is constituted by placing briest, cotton, silk and wool
threads side by side. Every double thread in the skeleton is tied with silk or
floss silk by means of various techniques and are tightened with the weft thread
and kirkit. This is how weaving with piles is done. In rug production, there may
be two or three wefts. In Turkey, two-wefted rugs are generally more common.
After completing a few lines, weaving is cut to the desired length with the help
of rug scissors. In recent years, there have also been rugs whose piles are cut
to different lengths in order to create reliefs on the surface. These can also
be used as mats, coverings and pillows etc.
Two types of knots are used in rug weaving.
1- Turkish Knot (Gördes Knot – Double Knot – Closed Loop): This is
known in the relevant literature as the Turkish knot, which is used in rug
production and takes that name from the way it was initially used in the village
of Gördes in the province of Manisa. There are two types of Turkish knot. In
Central Anatolia, first the front then the rear double warp is wrapped around
with the thread. In Western Anatolia, the reverse procedure is carried out.
Although these two types do not differ in quality, the pile of Western rugs is
easier to cut.
2- Persian Knot (Sine Loop – Single Knot – Open Loop):
This takes its name from the fact it was first used in Western Iran. In this
knot, the thread is only tied to the front part of the double warp, then passed
behind the other warp and tightened by pushing downwards. In rugs with a Persian
knot, two warp threads are also used as.
Uşak, Konya, Bergama (Yagcibedir), Hereke, Gördes, Kula, Ladik, Sivas, Milas,
Antalya (Döseme alti), Fethiye, Kirsehir, Niğde, Kayseri and Isparta are some of
the main rug production centers, known for their colours, designs and high
quality.
Looms may be classified as follows according to type of use:
a- Looms With Kirkit: There are three such types; the table or
horizontal looms (portable looms used to produce bezayağı weaving), the
perpendicular loom used for rugs and plain looms.
b- Looms with Shuttle: Non-whipped looms (generally with two pedals,
the shuttle being worked by hand), looms with whip (the whip pulls the shuttle
while weaving), dimple looms (the place where the weaver sits and the pedals
stand is in a hole), high looms and jacquard looms (used in weavings which
require more than thirty two gücü).
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